Journo On Air Alexis Madrigal brings a hyperlocal voice to KQED’s ‘Forum’ By Lou Fancher
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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
with several interviews stacked up like airplanes poised for takeoff in the pre-Covid-19 era. In my gut, anxious butterflies flapping their wings in anticipation of my speaking with Madrigal temporarily pause, but remain. The hovering Lepidoptera remind me this is a guy who’s authored two well-received books; reported for Fusion, Wired and Fresh Air; and interviewed the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Steve Kerr, Stacey Abrams, Van Jones, Colson Whitehead and others. He covers everything from literature to technology, social media, politics,
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KIRSTEN VOSS/COURTESY KQED
ix minutes before my interview with Alexis Madrigal—the Oaklandbased, renowned journalist and staff writer at The Atlantic who was named May 14 as co-host with Mina Kim of KQED’s public affairs radio program, Forum—our connectivity flounders. “Hey Lou! I am stuck in line at a commercial nursery right now. Text me your number and I’ll call you as soon as I wrap up here,” Madrigal writes in an email. In my mind, I foresee the implosion of a carefully structured afternoon
